This is a blog about marketing, gadgets, travel, privacy and cyberspace. Especially, but not exclusively, for those with an interest in everything that can make the life of a frequent traveller into something vaguely resembling normalcy.

Tuesday, January 31, 2006

Mobile payments: Japan leads the way

More mobile marketing news from Japan, where it all seems to be happening: the official introduction of Mobile Suica, a service that enables Japanese consumers to pay with a wave of their handphones things ranging from Japan Rail train tickets to fast food and electronics goods.

The six handset models that were promised to work with the service as announced last month now turn out to have become a full dozen, from providers NTT DoCoMo and KDDI. Unfortunately, three more Vodafone handsets that also support the technology are not (yet?) supported.

This will not stand in the way of a substantial increase in mobile payments in Japan, though. The number of Suica compatible handsets sold by DoCoMo alone has passed the 10 million mark.